December 4, 2016

Denial, Excuses, Inaction – NOT!

Passage: Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:41-13 and Matthew 3:1-12

Denial, Excuses, Inaction – NOT!

Today is the second Sunday of Advent… the Sunday of Peace… the Sunday when we consider the words of John the Baptist who reminds us what it is we are not to do…and what we must do. We meet John the Baptist standing knee-deep in the waters of the Jordan River, wearing camel's hair and munching on locusts and wild honey…and proclaiming a message that was loud and clear. For a preacher who liked to eat locusts and honey, I guess he never heard of the old adage that ‘You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.’…because his message was in no way sweet. John’s message was to the point. He doesn’t hesitate at all in his delivery. He doesn’t beat around the bush, but simply tells us what it is we must do. And that is: Repent. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Not, repent OR the kingdom of heaven will come near. A do this, or else type message. It was not, repent AND the kingdom of heaven will come near. A nothing will happen if YOU don’t repent, type message. Not. What John the Baptist says is Repent, FOR the kingdom of heaven has come near. John is preparing the people to receive Jesus the Messiah. Now was the time. No more denial. No more excuses. No more inaction.

The great American preacher Fred Craddock described John the Baptist as ‘the most famous preacher of his generation.’ People walked for miles just to hear this man and watch him preach. He got people’s attention. Some thought he was nothing more than a religious fanatic who put on a good show. Others thought he was a bit scary with his wild look and his images of snakes and axes and fire. He was dramatic and commanding in his delivery – a presence out there in the wilderness of Judea. The wilderness, by the way, is always a place of waiting in scripture, a place of waiting for God to act, to speak, to save. John is in the wilderness, and it’s not long before Jesushimself is led up by the Spirit into the wilderness. Following his baptism, Jesus spends 40 days and forty nights fasting in the wilderness. The wilderness is not that hospitable a place…and yet we are told that the people came. No church building…no church hall…nothing but the wilderness. John wasn’t a celebrity, a sports hero, a politician. He wasn’t surrounded by power and glory…and yet the people came. The people of Jerusalem and all of Judea, and all the region along the Jordan…were going out to where John was preaching. Before facebook and twitter the news travelled that the message John delivered was worth travelling to hear. And so they came. They listened…and were changed. They confessed their sins and were baptized.

But not all. Not everyone that listened was changed. Not everyone felt the need to repent…to confess their sins…and be baptized. Some were into denial…excuses…and inaction.

When I was reading the gospel account from the third chapter of Matthew, the three words – denial… excuses…and inaction – came through as the response from those who chose not to prepare. As we know John the Baptist was not one to hesitate in the message he delivered. When he saw the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them…You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Strong words. John doesn’t cut them any slack. John knew that they came to check him out. To try and find out what all the fuss was about. John could have been flattered by all the attention. What preacher doesn’t like a large crowd? But John saw past the number – the many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism – and challenged them as to why they had come.
I like the way Eugene Peterson puts this verse in his paraphrase The Message: “When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do…he exploded.” John was not a shy, retiring type of preacher. He exploded. He exploded because the Pharisees and the Sadducees were coming for baptism because it was the popular thing to do. Repentance had nothing to do with it. They came for the show of it. They were going through the motions…but if pressed for a true confession, they would deny really needing to repent. John knew that theirs was an empty repentance.

Repentance is a word we do not hear often today. In means to turn around, to change, to become different. It indicates a change of mind… a change of direction…to think differently after. To repent is to turn around and face the right way. It’s more than a feeling of regret.It’s more than a New Year's Eve resolution. Repentance is a turning away and a turning back. A turning away from sin and a turning back to God.It’s about a re-orientation… a change of perspective and direction… a commitment to turn and live differently. Repentance is not something to be dreaded, but a change that is good because it is about turning back to God. It is a commitment to offer all of life to God… and to live in a way that shows by our actions that we are truly repentant.

Once a shoplifter wrote a note to a local store that said, “I’ve just become a Christian, and I can’t sleep at night because I feel guilty. So here’s $100 that I owe you for merchandise that I’ve stolen.” Then he added a P.S. “If I still can’t sleep, I’ll send you the rest of the money!”

We often try to avoid true repentance, by just repenting part-way… or making excuses for our sin… or blaming others. True repentance is not easy. We need God’s help to really turn around our lives. And we need God’s help each and every day. The reformer Martin Luther declared that the Christian life should be one of daily repentance. Daily we confess… daily we repent… daily we turn, turn, ‘til we turn ‘round right.” It needs to be intentional. Too easily we become comfortable in our faith and in the practices of our faith. Too easily we fall into the trap of thinking that we are better than so and so and that we would never do that or say that or behave like that. We can make a list and check it off twice and say, hey, I’m pretty nice. But sin is not just the things we do…or don’t do. A Catechism for Today answers the question (#24) What is sin? with the answer, Sin is turning against God. To repent – to repent from sin – means to turn to God. We repent in response to the love of God. And the fact that we can repent is an act of God’s grace.

Frederick Buechner has a little booked entitled: “Wishful Thinking: A Seekers ABC” and in it (p. 79) he offers this definition to the word, repent: ‘To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something you do as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, I’m sorry…than to the future and saying, Wow!’

John the Baptist preached a message of repentance and he wanted everyone who listened to repent… to change… and for that change to be genuine. For it to be a real ‘Wow!’. But for the Pharisees and the Sadducees it was not. They were in denial that they needed true repentance. Nothing wrong with us. We dress nicely, with flowing robes. We spend all our time in the temple. We study the scriptures. We know the Law. Look at us. There is no problem. NOT.
Their denial was their problem. Other people had sins for sure, but not them. They were living right. They prayed. They obeyed. They were faithful all the way. They were already right with God. In fact, they could prove their privilege by tracing their lineage back to Abraham. So not only were they in denial about the need to repent, they had an excuse at the ready. But John tells them NOT. In no uncertain terms does claiming Abraham as your ancestor get you a pass on needing repentance. The call to repentance is for everyone – without exception. And the call is now! The ax is lying at the root of the tree.

John called them out on their mindset of denial. Their ease at coming up with excuses. And their blatant lack of action. John said, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” If not then the answer will be, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Words echoed by Jesus near the end of his Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:19, Jesus said, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John the Baptist – that great preacher out in the wilderness – reminds us…or rather gets right in our face with his message…that denial, excuses, and inaction are not the way to prepare nor the way to live. Repent. Turn to God. Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

In her message on today’s gospel lesson, Alyce McKenzie, a preaching professor, includes this lesson from Rabbi Eliezer. He taught his disciples “Repent one day before your death.” One of them then asked, “How will we know when that day is?” to which he replied, “All the more reason to repent today, lest you die tomorrow.”

The Pharisees and Sadducees were okay with waiting until tomorrow…or perhaps never. Denial. Excuses. Inaction. But John called them on their denial…their excuses…their inaction. It’s no way to live. The way to live is to daily turn to God and repent. We repent in response to the love of God. And the fact that we can repent is an act of God’s grace. The gift of God’s grace. And our response to God’s gift of grace is to live. Truly live…in a way that does not deny that we’ve been saved by God’s grace. Wow!

Today is the second Sunday of Advent. We have lit the candle of hope and peace. Next week the candle of joy followed a week later by the candle of love. And we know what that means. That Christmas really is just around the corner. We know that Christmas is coming…we can’t deny it any longer. There is no more time for excuses…nor inaction. There is work to do…and not just checking off the to-do-list of chores…and preparations, no matter how special and traditional, and important they may be. John reminds us today what we must do today. Truly repent. Repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. All the preparations that we are busy fussing over are for the one whose birth we will celebrate in three weeks. As we continue to get ready, let us not forget to repent. Denial. Excuses. Inaction. NOT! Our answer should be YES! A resounding YES! For the one whom we wait for IS coming. Amen.